The Biker from Lemon Street

Leslie Caldera freshens up and changes from his biking clothes to office casual attire for the Career Renewal Ministry sponsored by Saints Simon and Jude Catholic Church after riding his bike to the event. Caldera is an out of work graphic artist who used to use his commuter bike to get to work, now he commutes by bike to events seeking work. ///ADDITIONAL INFO:01.work_caldera.xxx9.mg - 09/06/09 - Photo by MICHAEL GOULDING,THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER - Additional info, CQs, and keywords for searching. Generic Caption: Leslie Caldera, a guy who used to ride his bike to work and is now unemployed and rides his bike to networking meetings for the unemployed. MICHAEL GOULDING, THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

The Orange County Register

Dear Readers,

Since the 2007 subprime mortgage meltdown, the Orange County Register has tried to keep you up to date with the struggling economy. You've read about home foreclosures, business closures, job losses and how those events affected our community.

We are seeing some brighter signs now, small glimpses into what some say is the beginning of an economic recovery. Except for jobs. Experts say Orange County – along with the rest of the country – will confront high unemployment through much of next year.

The Register decided to take the statistics and turn them into a series of stories we call "Work." And, in a demonstration of how our own work is changing, these stories will be told in a multi-platform format. You can:

·•Read the story on our Business page today

·•Watch an audio slideshow online at work.freedomblogging.com.

·•Download and listen to the story as a podcast

Each week, we will offer you another "Work" profile and update the "Work" blog each day to connect you to the changing world of work. We'd like to hear from you – with comments, tips or suggestions. Email the writer, Peggy Lowe, at plowe@ocregister.com, or me, kbrusic@ocregister.com.

Sincerely,

Ken Brusic

Editor

CYPRESS – Leslie Caldera says good-bye to his dog, Bella, and steers his bike out of the garage. It's a Wednesday afternoon in September and he's got an appointment.

He wheels out what he calls his commuter bike – a beat-up single-speed that for seven years he rode to his job as a marketing coordinator at Fairmont, a private school in Anaheim. He adjusts the rear-view mirror strapped to his helmet, fastens the chin strap and sets sail from his home here on Lemon Street.

He races down Ball Road, its wide lanes making it his favorite street, and glides to a stop at Brookhurst. This is the exact route he used to ride to his job. Four days a week, every week, not in rain, always in shine. Almost every day, during a 23-year career as a graphic designer, Leslie Caldera rode his bike to work.

He'd sometimes leave home early, hoping to add some extra miles to the eight-mile course. He'd cruise through a park, soaking up the early-morning sunshine, dodging heavy traffic at Disneyland and arriving at the school in time to change out of his biker shorts and top and into khakis and a work shirt.

Then two years ago, all of a sudden, Leslie's life took a detour. Fairmont cut his job and laid him off.

At first, he was optimistic. He figured, hey, might be a good time for a mid-life change, a time to try something new. He thought he'd be unemployed for about three months and find something else. What Leslie didn't see coming was the first massive wave of job losses that hit Orange County during the summer of 2007, when the thousands of people connected to the local real estate and housing industries were hit by the mortgage meltdown.

After two years without a job, these are dark days for the biker from Lemon Street. Leslie's patched together a living with his savings, a couple freelance jobs, the income supplied by his wife's work as a substitute teacher and unemployment checks from the government. He's among what the U.S. Labor Department calls the long-term unemployed – those who have been out of work for 27 weeks or more.

By mid-September, Leslie exhausted the maximum 79 weeks of jobless benefits and became one of the more than 143,000 California residents who have hit the end of their benefits. Congress continues to debate offering an extension, worth another few weeks of checks. But in the meantime, Leslie and his family are living without that safety net. His car insurance bill hasn't been paid, the home insurance cost is pending and property taxes come due in December.

"As time has gone by, it's kind of like the frog-in-the-boiling water syndrome," Leslie says. "So much time has gone by and day-to-day, I don't really notice a difference. But it really has become a major concern and a dire situation."

And Leslie's situation is becoming more commonplace as the recession sits down in California and settles in for the long term. According to state figures for the month of September, one in three jobless people are long-term unemployed, meaning they've been out of work for 27 weeks or more. Some 31.2 percent of the unemployed — 600,000 people in this state — fell into that category. That's up significantly from a year ago, when 18.3 percent were considered long-term jobless.

Now instead of using his commuter bike to get to work, Leslie commutes to events seeking work. He travels to Huntington Beach each Thursday night, to the Career Renewal Ministry sponsored by Saints Simon and Jude Catholic Church. And he travels to Anaheim to attend a monthly networking function called "Experience Unlimited," organized by the state Employment Development Department for unemployed middle managers.

Mostly, he just keeps trying to find a job, hitting the road, going to events and seeking out anyone he can think of that might offer help. Recently, he talked to a career counselor who encouraged him to write his dream job. The writing made him hopeful and he figured he could chase a job in the biking industry, maybe as an advocate for bike-to-work programs. He's also looking at going back to the grocery business, where he worked before he took the Fairmont job.

Back on the road, Leslie arrives in Anaheim at the local senior center, parks his bike inside and heads for the men's room. He changes out of his biking clothes and into khakis and a nice shirt, then steps out to the lobby like some kind of Everyman superhero coming out of the phone booth. He attaches his name tag to his shirt. He shakes hands. He takes notes. He joins in on the role-playing tasks the group's leaders have dreamed up.

Then when the appointment is over, Leslie Caldera changes back into his biking clothes, gets back in the saddle, and hits the road. He's headed back to Lemon Street.

Leslie Caldera freshens up and changes from his biking clothes to office casual attire for the Career Renewal Ministry sponsored by Saints Simon and Jude Catholic Church after riding his bike to the event. Caldera is an out of work graphic artist who used to use his commuter bike to get to work, now he commutes by bike to events seeking work. ///ADDITIONAL INFO:01.work_caldera.xxx9.mg - 09/06/09 - Photo by MICHAEL GOULDING,THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER - Additional info, CQs, and keywords for searching. Generic Caption: Leslie Caldera, a guy who used to ride his bike to work and is now unemployed and rides his bike to networking meetings for the unemployed. MICHAEL GOULDING, THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER
Now instead of using his commuter bike to get to work, Leslie Caldera commutes to events seeking work. He's riding to Huntington Beach on a recent Thursday night, to the Career Renewal Ministry sponsored by Saints Simon and Jude Catholic Church.By mid-September, Leslie had exhausted the maximum 79 weeks of jobless benefits and became one of the more than 143,000 California residents who have hit the end of their benefits. ///ADDITIONAL INFO:01.work_caldera.xxx9.mg - 09/06/09 - Photo by MICHAEL GOULDING,THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER - Additional info, CQs, and keywords for searching. Generic Caption: Leslie Caldera, a guy who used to ride his bike to work and is now unemployed and rides his bike to networking meetings for the unemployed.
Leslie Caldera attends the Career Renewal Ministry sponsored by Saints Simon and Jude Catholic Church in Huntington Beach. ///ADDITIONAL INFO:01.work_caldera.xxx9.mg - 09/06/09 - Photo by MICHAEL GOULDING,THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER - Additional info, CQs, and keywords for searching. Generic Caption: Leslie Caldera, a guy who used to ride his bike to work and is now unemployed and rides his bike to networking meetings for the unemployed. MICHAEL GOULDING, THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER
An avid cyclist, Leslie Caldera is an out of work graphic artist who used to use his commuter bike to get to work, now he commutes by bike to events seeking work. ///ADDITIONAL INFO:01.work_caldera.xxx9.mg - 09/06/09 - Photo by MICHAEL GOULDING,THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER - Additional info, CQs, and keywords for searching. Generic Caption: Leslie Caldera, a guy who used to ride his bike to work and is now unemployed and rides his bike to networking meetings for the unemployed. MICHAEL GOULDING, THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER
Leslie Caldera attends a monthly networking function called "Experience Unlimited," organized by the state Employment Development Department for unemployed middle managers in Anaheim recently. ///ADDITIONAL INFO:01.work-caldera..0918.mg - 09/16/09 - Photo by MICHAEL GOULDING,THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER - Additional info, CQs, and keywords for searching. Generic Caption: Leslie Caldera used to ride his bike to work and is now unemployed and rides his bike to networking meetings for the unemployed. Today he's riding to a seminar for the unemployed in Anaheim. I need to get more sound of his networking and riding. MICHAEL GOULDING, THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

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